Rockhurst runs on national stage

By Max Goodwin

On a cold and rainy day in Portland, Oregon, earlier this month, seven Rockhurst runners crossed the finish line at Glendoveer Golf Course for the Nike Cross Nationals, wrapping up one of the most successful high school cross country seasons for a team from Missouri.

Rockhurst is only the second school ever from Missouri to qualify for the Nike Cross National meet. It’s been the team’s goal all season. Another goal was accomplished in November as Rockhurst won the Class 6 state championship. Senior Henry Acorn won the individual state championship, running a time of 14:52.4.

Rockhurst qualified for nationals through a Midwest regionals meet in Indiana on Nov. 17. When senior Kai Somasegaran finished, he didn’t know if the team had qualified for nationals. A teammate found him and broke the news they were going to Portland.

“I couldn’t help but tear up with pure joy as I jumped up and down like a little kid,” Somasegaran said.

Training through summer heat prepared them for these races in cold temperatures on muddy courses. Seniors teach freshmen to pace themselves in order to peak at just the right time. Just as runners give their last extra kick in the final hundred meters of a race, they also provide an extra kick late in the season when state championships and trips to nationals are at stake.

“Summer training and in-season planning was all geared towards racing at our best late in the year,” said Head Coach Mike Dierks.

Dierks has been the head coach for all three of Rockhurst’s state championships in cross country now—the first in 2016, then in 2018, and now in 2024. In 2023, Rockhurst finished second at state and came into this year with something to prove.

It’s a senior-heavy group, with 25 seniors overall. However, the addition of two freshmen, Jack Morrison and Jack McGovern, helped complete the team. The talent and depth of Rockhurst brought high expectations this season, but the team never felt that pressure.

“This group was a blast to coach,” Rockhurst Head Coach Mike Dierks said. “We entered the season with goals of winning state and qualifying for Nike Cross Nationals, so there were some high expectations, but instead of letting the pressure build, we just focused on getting one percent better each day, supporting each other, and being family-focused as possible.”

Acorn, in particular, is an exceptional runner and the team leader. He’s the most talented runner that Dierks has ever coached. Acorn’s dedication to the sport pushed Dierks to dig deeper as a coach. He reached out to past Rockhurst runners and researched new training ideas.

This season, Acorn ran the third fastest time ever in a Missouri state championship at the Gans Creek Course in Columbia. Acorn will run cross country and attend the University of Virginia next year.

“He is so passionate about this sport and showed such great commitment to training that I felt I had to become a better coach to help him achieve his goals,” Dierks said.

Somasegaran and fellow senior Andrew Davis qualified as all-state and helped push Acorn this year. Freshman Jack McGovern was the surprise, also qualifying as all-state. He tied the fastest time ever for a freshman at the state championship and was the second-fastest freshman at nationals.

McGovern found traveling to Portland for the Nike nationals meet ‘almost overwhelming but still amazing.’ He said the week was packed with fun and incredible experiences.

“Competing on a course with the fastest runner in the nation was exciting and challenging,” McGovern said. “But I knew I belonged there and that we had put in enough work.”

The course itself was challenging, and the weather added another obstacle. Dierks said the team got off to a bad start and then had a wall of the best runners in the nation in front of them. Rockhurst runners fought to get in front of the wall but never could. The blockade of runners, the rain and the mud slowed down the runners’ times.

All seven Rockhurst runners ran slower times than at the state championship or the Midwest regional. Acorn finished 60th in 16:20.7. Somasegaran wasn’t far behind in 69th with a time of 16:25.4. As a team they finished 13th in a field of 22 of the best cross country teams in the United States.

They entered the season with high expectations and achieved everything they set out to. They won a state championship, had an individual state champion, and four all-state runners. Racing in Portland at Nike Cross Nationals was thrilling, Somasegaran said.

“I loved being able to meet new teams from different states, while also sharing such an amazing experience with my favorite people in the world.”